Cancer charity's fears over impact of pandemic
Women are being urged not to put off breast cancer checks after a charity warned that nearly 11,000 could be living with the condition, because of the pandemic, and not know it.
Breast Cancer Now calculated that fewer referrals and less access to treatment, coupled with a pause to breast screening programmes, meant 10,700 fewer people were diagnosed with breast cancer between March and December 2020 than it would have expected.
Even though services have resumed, the charity said they are operating at around 60% capacity due to the need for social distancing and infection control.
Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of Breast Cancer Now, said: "The tragic cost of almost 11,000 missing breast cancer diagnoses is that in the worst cases, women could die from the disease.
"While we cannot know the full impacts of the pandemic, what we do know now is that over the coming years the number of women coming forward could overwhelm our already over-stretched workforce.”
Jane Murphy, clinical nurse specialist at Breast Cancer Now, said: "The pandemic has thrown us into unprecedented times and it's natural people will have concerns but the sooner breast cancer is diagnosed the better the chances of treatment being successful, which makes it vital that women continue to check their breasts regularly and get any new or unusual changes checked with the GP, and continue to attend breast screening appointments when invited.
"The NHS wants people to attend their appointments and report symptoms and have measures in place to keep staff and patients safe."